Stability
by cherryredxx
Summary: Her brain, overworked and always overthinking, told her that it was a mathematical anomaly, an impossibility. Destiny could not exist. Written for the One-Hour Challenge on HPFC


The sky was shining brightly over England. Not a cloud could be seen and the ever expansive surrounding was illuminated by the light of the moon. Hermione could see for miles in the huge clearing behind the Burrow. She closed her eyes. The world felt too big for her. There was too much going on, too many people to meet, and she was only one person. One lonely, silly girl.

She sat on the back porch swing, alone. Her pointed foot dangled, scraping the ground as she swayed back and forth. It was a precarious position that he had put her in. They were such good friends and she loved his family so much, but she was strained, torn between the man that she loved and the family that she had come to claim as her own. She felt lost and broken, unable to decide what was right. Her decision was too difficult. She had always believed that they were made for one another, but her outrageous philosophy was starting to seem childish to her. How could a person be expected to find the one human being in the entire world that they were destined to be with? Her brain, overworked and always overthinking, told her that it was a mathematical anomaly, an impossibility. Destiny could not exist.

Beside her, the seat gave. Someone had sat beside her on the swing. Subconsciously, she shifted and slid further away, making room for whomever had intruded her moment of solace. She knew it wasn't Ron. She would have been able to smell his distinct boy smell – freshly mowed grass, spearmint, and soap. When she finally did turn towards her intruder, she nearly jumped in surprise.

It was Bill – the earring wearing, long-haired, rebellious older brother whom she had never really got a chance to know until recently. He was nice enough and had always treated her politely, but he was not something who she had ever really got a chance to know throughout the years that she had been friends with Ron. But everything was different now. There was no more war and, after all of the death and destruction, there was a general philosophy that family members should make it a point to stay close with one another.

She had to admit that she was glad that he had started to be around. He was very different from his other brothers. He was hot tempered, but he wasn't nearly as bad as Ron, and he was funny, but in a different sense than the twins. He was smart without being a know-it-all like Percy and he was rugged without being quite as rough as Charlie. He had the best of everything, and he was nice to look at.

When Hermione finally drifted back to reality, she realized that Bill was staring at her. His expression was amused without being judgmental. It made her smile.

"Nice night, isn't it?" he said, breaking the ice and initiating a conversation to break the loud silence. "Why aren't you with Ron?"

She snorted before she could stop herself and then cleared her throat loudly to overcompensate for the unladylike sound. "Well, we had a bit of a row, I suppose," she said, wanting to be vague. It was difficult, though. A part of her wanted to be alone, but another part of her liked having Bill beside her.

"Well that is unsurprising," the redheaded man said, once again snapping her from her thoughts. "What happened?"

"He put me in a difficult position, is all."

"Oh?"

Frustration began to creep in. It was obvious that Bill wanted some kind of answer or explanation, and she didn't know how to make it _more_ clear that she had no interest in divulging more details about their fight. But a part of her wanted to tell him, and she hated to admit it.

She sighed. "We broke up."

Bill's eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into his hairline. "Now why did he do a stupid thing like that?"

Suddenly she felt very cold. She wrapped her arms around her middle, rocking slightly. "Our relationship was a bit complicated after we…" She trailed off, hoping that Bill would understand the insinuation so that she would not have to go into more detail. "And now he wants to see other people."

"Who is there to see but you?"

His comment got her attention. A part of her thought that she was crazy for thinking that he meant anything at all by that question, but another part, a much bigger part that made her heart skip a beat, wondered if he _did_ mean something by that. She cleared her throat again – this time to allow herself to regain some composure. "Well, Daphne Greengrass, apparently."

"I don't know Daphne. Was she in your house at Hogwarts?"

"No. Slytherin."

"He's just lost, Hermione," Bill said gently without missing a beat. "After losing Fred, I think he just wants to experience life rather than feel tied down to one girl. He's unstable, but that's no excuse. He could lose you. Easily."

She bit her lip. "This place has been like a second home to me, and now I just feel like I've got no reason to be here."

"You've got every reason to be here."

Her heart skipped another beat. Just the way he spoke to her made her knees feel weak. Maybe Ron _was_ unstable. Maybe she needed more than that. She looked at him. "You – you think I –"

Bill didn't let her finish her thought. He placed a silencing finger to her lips briefly before replacing it with his lips. The kiss was tender and firm, completely unlike the rushed and wholly passionate exchanges she had experienced with Ron. Everything there was to know about a man was in his kiss. Ron had fire and uncertainty, but Bill had the one thing that Hermione need and craved, even though she had not realized it was something she had been longing for until that moment. He had stability.

He pulled back. "Do you still think you don't belong here?"

Once again, she bit her lip. "What about Ron?"

A thumb brushed over her cheek, causing a shiver to flow through her body. "He's the one who gave you up."

Hermione smiled and leaned in for a second kiss. She still didn't know if she believed in destiny or soul mates or any of the other childish philosophies that she had once held as law, but she did believe in fate and the notion that something good could sprout from something painful, and that was enough for now.


End file.
